State budget tech cuts draw ire

Top officials from the city's universities and business community joined in blasting proposed technology cuts included in the state budget expected to be approved later this week.

Saying that the region could miss out on an upcoming technology-related economic boom, the leaders bemoaned cuts made by the Legislature to Gov. George Ryan's technology initiative, including plans to slash more than $35 million in funding. Those cuts would affect research facilities at Argonne National Laboratory and at local hospitals, including the University of Chicago and Rush-Presbyterian.

"This is an investment," Stephen Mitchell, chairman of the Illinois Coalition, a group of area technology community leaders, said at a news conference Tuesday. "It is not a cost, and it definitely and surely is not pork."

Eden Martin, chairman of the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago, noted that Illinois has enough top universities and businesses to sustain a technology hub, but "so much of it boils down to the fact that we need to jump-start this process of investment."

Further, officials said, if Illinois does not pour the money into its technology infrastructure, some other state will--and the top university talent and high-tech companies will follow.

"One of the reasons Boeing liked this area was because of the technology infrastructure," said Illinois Coalition President Shaye Mandle, noting that the aerospace giant, which recently said it was moving its headquarters from Seattle to Chicago, is moving into new areas of technology. "All technology has the potential to end up in the commercial sector. It is not only an academic discussion."

A spokesman for Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan dismissed the news conference, saying, "We're here working on fashioning a budget." He declined to comment on whether the cuts actually would be made, or whether they were an indication of flagging support by the legislature for the state's technology initiatives.

"We've got commitments to education, to mental health...there is an endless series of spending decisions being made."